Many types of automatic fishing devices exist, including trotlines, limblines, jugs, and hook setters. However, each of these devices is suited for use only in specific environments. For instance, trotlines are most effective for a relatively broad expanse of water with two readily identifiable endpoints protruding from the water. Limblines are useful only in places where thin, flexible tree limbs hang over the water at a height such that the fisherman can secure the limbline to the tree. Jugs are best suited to large areas of open water to avoid lost fish due to snagging. Finally, hook setters require close supervision, as such devices are not designed to maintain tension after a fish strikes. For these reasons, perhaps the most versatile automatic fishing device is the rotary automatic fisher, one type of which is also known as a “yoyo” to many fishermen. Yoyos can be used on boats, boat docks, trees, ice fishing rigs, and just about any other location where the yoyo can be secured to an above-water object.
As useful as yoyos are, they lack a strike indicator so that the fisherman knows to check the yoyo to see if a fish is on the line or if the yoyo needs to be rebaited. Fishermen must instead individually inspect each yoyo to determine whether the yoyo has hooked a fish. It is a primary object of the invention to provide a strike indicator for a yoyo that allows a fisherman to determine whether a yoyo needs to be checked without requiring the fisherman to be in very close proximity to the yoyo.
The original yoyo is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,552 (the “'552 patent”), issued in 1951 to J. W. White, Jr. The design disclosed in the '552 patent is still in widespread use among fishermen and is readily available. Due to the sheer number of yoyos already on the market, it is thus another object of the invention to provide a strike indicator for a yoyo that may be retrofitted to yoyos of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,791,857 (the “'857 patent”) discloses a device similar to a yoyo but that adds to the original design a rotating bar having a clapper to strike bells. An auditory signal is only useful if the fisherman is in close proximity to the device at the time the fish strikes. Notably, the '857 patent requires a separate frame to which the bells are mounted to give enough space between the rotating bar and the bells for the clapper to generate sufficient force to audibly ring the bells. For this reason, among others, the '857 patent cannot be easily retrofitted to yoyos of the prior art. Furthermore, the choice of bells for the '857 patent is unduly limiting, as the bells only ring when the line is actually retrieved into the spool of the device. The fisherman must be within earshot of the device at the time the fish strikes to work effectively, as the bells will not continue to ring after the line is fully retrieved. It is thus an object of the invention to provide a strike indicator that is functional even after the line of the automatic fishing device is fully retracted.
In many instances, fishermen use yoyos at night because many species of sporting fish actively feed at night. Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a strike indicator that is useful at night.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,651 (the “'651 patent”) discloses a jug-type fishing device that has, as one component, a switch to turn on a light upon a fish strike. However, the '651 patent cannot be applied to a yoyo because such patent utilizes a jug-type fishing device that relies upon buoyancy as a counterweight to a fish's tugs. Such configuration is bulky and requires open water for efficient use, and the fishing device disclosed in the '651 patent cannot easily be mounted to fixed objects. The design disclosed in the '651 patent is also problematic because the design allows the switch to be triggered multiple times if a fish tugged on the line with sufficient strength more than once. Each cycle of slack and tension would trigger the switch, thus making the signal blink on and off and rendering the device useless half of the time. Furthermore, the line itself may trigger the switch because the line is fed through the switch at a severely acute angle; such an angle places excessive stress on both the line and the switch, which could lead to failure of either component. It is thus an object of the invention to provide a strike indicator for an automatic fishing device that is reliable and consistent.